Need a good inverter.

[Maverick]

Looking for a 2000 watt inverter. I would prefer to buy from a national chain type store. I did find one in the new Cabela's spring catalog. Its a Coleman Powermate 2K watt for $299.99.

Any other choices?

[Maverick]

Not having any luck with national chain stores. How about this one? Anybody got one?

http://www.dcacpowerinverters.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=AED2000

[DonG]

Maverick,
I am not sure what you looking for but Camping World sells several inverters for RV's. They are at www.campingworld.com

My current RV has an inverter that works well but according to Camping World it is around $1200.

I am not familiar with the one you have shown.

Good Luck, Don

[oyazi]

Try a search on EBay. Bought a couple that way @ affordable price.

[FisHn2DMax]

Maverick,

Be careful when you look at the output ratings of inverters! Some of the lower cost units may seem to have a great price, but there not designed for a constant load at the stated MAX wattage. These lower cost units (like the coleman) are rated at a low duty cycle, i.e. they're good for only short durations at or above 70% of their stated peak output power.

The higher cost units are rated for a higher duty use cycle, and can run at or near MAX output ratings for long durations with out shuting down or blowing something. Keep in mind these units under load can get really physically very HOT, so mount it accordingly, and in a well vented area.

It all depends on what you intend to use it for?

My advise is to go with an (mid-cost)inverter with a constant rated output 25-35% higher than the highest wattage steady state demand of the 110 Volt device or applicance your trying to run.

I agree with the previous post, Ebay is a good place to find an inverter! Be sure to check the duty use rating and always buy one with a higher max wattage rating than your actual wattage requirements or you'll really regret it!


Good Luck smile.gif

[RapidMax]

Radio Shack has a good selection -- a little on the pricey side, but of decent quality and you've got the national chain that way. I'm not sure how big they've got (e.g. 2000 wattt?) -- the one I got from them was less than that.

[SoCalDMAX]

I bought a 2500w continuous, 5000w peak inverter from Heartland America (they're online). It was $349.
Here: http://www.heartlandamerica.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=40243564&EXTRA_ARG=SC%3D&CFGNAME=MssFind%2Ecfg&host_id=1&page_id=267&query=inverter&hiword=INVERTER+INVERTERS+

It has a bar graph showing input V and another showing current draw in A, up to 300A. I tried it with my 1000w microwave, 20" TV, DVD/surround system and DirecTV rcvr on, (everything but the Air Cond.), it was showing about 100A draw.

It runs very cool and is very sleek looking. The inverter is mounted in the gen. cubby instead of the gen. I simply plug my shore power cable into the output of the inverter. I'd recommend upgrading to 6V golf cart batteries if drawing that much current, T-105s or better.

Regards, Steve

[wxmn6]

2000 watts may be fine if you are not running anything under heavy load. The inverter should convert the vehicle 12VDC to 120VAC which is the normal household voltage. Power (watts) is equal to voltage multiply by current (amps). So divide 2000 watts by 120 volts and you get 16.6 amps continuous duty amperage rating (as long as the instruction manual say so). You could plugs in a few household stuff to that inverter at once, but nothing that really draws heavy load. So you should be fine with 2000 watts.

[wxmn6]

Anyone bought an inverter from Northern Tools (Great Plains)? This topic got me thinking about getting one for my truck.

[BobW]

Flying J has a Cobra 2000 W for $239 at

http://www.flyingjestore.com/

[Maverick]

Thanks BobW,
That looks like the best deal going yet!